Li Ka-shing's son to sell Beijing property

Pacific Century Premium Development Limited (PCPD), headed by Asia's richest man Li Ka-shing's son Richard Li (Li Tzar Kai), recently announced it would sell its downtown property, Beijing Pacific Century Place, according to a report by China Business News on Jan. 15.

The prime office building is located in Beijing's bustling Central Business District, and was home to multinational companies including Boeing, Johnson & Johnson and Fuji.

It had a moderate performance in terms of rent and rental rates in 2013 according to the company's semi-annual report. It amassed 119 million yuan (about US$ 20 million) in rent in the first half of 2013, equaling that of the same period in 2012. The building's rental rate fell to 61% as the lease of some department stores has expired.

The announcement follows a spate of property sales by the Li family in recent months, leading to speculation that Li was moving out of the Chinese mainland. On the last day of 2013, Li's company sold the Nanjing IFC, a landmark building in downtown Nanjing, for an estimated three billion yuan. Before this, it sold the Oriental Financial Center in Shanghai for seven billion yuan in October 2013, and the Metropolitan Plaza in Guangzhou for 2.6 billion yuan last August.

Though rumors about Li selling the Beijing Pacific Century Place can be dated back to 2004 when PCPD went public, the announcement of the move continues to attract much speculation.